How to Do the Actor-Director Dance
July, 06, 2012 12:03 pm | Comments On #acting, actor, director, filmmaking, MoviesAs far as relationships go, I think the one between actors and directors is the most challenging. It is simultaneously demanding and misunderstood.
Think about it: A director gets a script that is full of complex characters, and he needs actors to portray those characters. Okay -- that seems easy enough. There are thousands of available actors from which a director can choose.
But once the selection has been made, the trouble begins. The actor-director relationship is kind of like trying to dance a waltz and both parties are trying to lead. Or, perhaps more accurately, the director thinks it’s a waltz while the actor is convinced it’s a tango (and we won’t begin to...
Read MoreWhen it Comes to Best Actor, How are We to Judge?
February, 19, 2012 1:26 pm | Comments On #George Clooney, Jean Dujardin, MoviesThe Oscars are upon us again. I’m looking forward to the debates, disagreements, surprises and disappointments that inevitably accompany the Academy Awards.
The fact that we often disagree on the artistic qualities of the nominated films and performances is what makes Award Season so damn exciting.
Today, I want to delve into one particular category: Best Actor (in a lead or supporting role). And I want to ask one simple, but compelling question: How do we assess the quality of acting, the caliber of the performance as we seek to define "best"?
Clearly, such a determination is terribly subjective. There are no tools of finite measurement – no timers, no scoreboards, no bars that can be cleared that indisputably declare a winner. This is not the Olympics, after all....
Read More'Committee Meetings' Hold Key to Well-Developed Characters
January, 24, 2012 9:51 am | Comments On #MoviesWe all have voices in our head.
You know the voices, the ones who tell us what to do and what not to do, those voices that can simultaneously praise us and condemn us. And since there seems to be an inordinate number of voices in my head, I have given them the collective name "the Committee."
One of my problems with my Committee is that they are always in session. They never take a break or seem to need a rest. Especially in the morning – I wake up and they’re in full swing, in the midst of a deep debate on one or more heated topics. It feels like they’ve been at it for a long time and they’ve clearly made decisions without consulting me. And now I have to scramble and catch up.
Since I have this Committee in my head and can safely assume that every other living human being has one, it must be also true that every...
Read MoreIn Storytelling, Mind the Gap
January, 11, 2012 11:08 am | Comments On #Movies
As storytellers, we understand that every character’s journey is based on a series of objectives: the pursuit of desired outcomes. We also understand that for every objective, there are obstacles, often series of them, each designed to keep our character from achieving his objective.
Mixed into the constant push/pull of objectives and obstacles is another element: expectations. If the objective is what our character pursues and obstacles are those things standing in the way of achieving the objective, then expectations are the rewards our character anticipates receiving once he has reached his objective.
Here’s an example: Walter decides he wants to get a certain job (his objective). He is convinced that once he gets this job, he will feel better about himself, his colleagues will admire him, and his life, for all intents and purposes,...
Read MoreThe World of Obstacles
December, 21, 2011 12:10 pm | Comments On #Movies
Obstacles. We don’t like them, they frustrate us, we don’t want them. But we need them. Obstacles are an essential element of existence – everyone’s existence – heck, even plants and animals face obstacles over the course of their lives. Obstacles are what make life rich and invigorating, challenging and colorful. They define us. And they are one of our most powerful storytelling tools.
Obstacles are present every moment of our lives, whether it’s other people, other attitudes or beliefs or even our own doubts and insecurities. We complain about them but, quite honestly, a life without obstacles would be unreal, absurd, bizarre, and surreal.
Many of us face the same obstacles (i.e. the weather, the economy, a difficult boss or spouse, low self-esteem, etc.), but how we handle these common obstacles reveals more...
Read MoreScreenwriters, It's Important to Understand 'Both' of Your Objectives
December, 13, 2011 6:01 pm | Comments On #Movies“Objective” is defined as: Object, purpose, aim, point, idea, goal, intention, intent or reason.
Every moment of every day each of us is trying to achieve something, trying to fulfill some goal. It may be as simple as trying to make a cup of tea or read an article in the newspaper or as complex as solving some mathematical equation or making a life decision. Regardless, they are all goals.
We are always aimed at something, moving toward some purpose, trying to accomplish some task. Some scholars have said that this is what makes all living creatures, from ants to astronauts, unique. And there are other scholars who claim that even plants have objectives, clear goals such as “reach for the sunlight,” “absorb the moisture,” “survive.”
It is the survival part that is the most interesting. Not only are...
Read MoreWhy We Need Story Structure
December, 06, 2011 10:33 am | Comments On #Movies
As we move through our lives, day to day, we are basically out of control. By that I mean we have little or no control over what is going to happen in the next minute, five minutes, hours, days, weeks or months.
We live in a state of constant naïveté, on the cusp (great word, "cusp") between the known (the past) and the unknown (the future). And, even as we attempt to wrangle the events of our lives into some kind of order, some kind of pattern that seems to make sense as we pursue our elusive goals, it is this living on the edge that makes our lives so exciting, rich and invigorating, whether we like it or not.
When we create stories, our goal is to place the reader or viewer on this cusp, in the moment of not knowing what’s coming next. This is where our best stories live, where we can truly share in the experiences of...
Read MoreStorytelling vs. Story Writing
December, 01, 2011 10:47 am | Comments On #Movies
I’m sitting at lunch with a friend, a dear old friend, old in years and long in friendship. I’m trying to bring him up to date on my life, my experiences, my accomplishments, dreams, and failures over the past many years.
Yes, it’s been years since I’ve seen him. And as I’m weaving my stories I suddenly become aware of the joy of flexibility and opportunity in oral storytelling. I’ve been struggling with one particular screenplay for nearly eight years, I’m telling him, and I explain my love/hate relationship with writing screenplays.
“I’m sitting there, staring at the scene, knowing precisely what both characters are feeling, thinking, fearing, wondering and hoping. And I feel trapped, blocked, locked into a form that won’t allow me to express myself, to express precisely what I...
Read MoreThe Movie in My Mind
November, 23, 2011 9:20 am | Comments On #Movies
What is the genesis of a story? It begins rumbling around inside our head, begging to be heard, begging to be told. It takes a form in our mind, a shape. And regardless of how we plan or hope to transfer it from our imagination to the world, it is, for now, playing as a movie in our mind.
It may be a silent movie, images only. It may be a story without pictures, sound only. (I wonder, is that what was racing through Mozart’s mind? Just the sounds, the instruments, the orchestrations? Or were there pictures too?) Or our movie may be only images of words on a page, shifting around in an attempt to form a sonnet. Or it may be images that look like a play, feel like a novel, want to be a film. But, whatever they are, there are images.
Images are all around us every moment of our lives, either...
Read MoreWriting With One Hand Behind Your Back
November, 16, 2011 11:57 am | Comments On #Movies
We’re all storytellers, each and every one of us. We tell stories all day long – at meetings, dinners, on the phone, taking walks – and even to ourselves. We post stories on Facebook and Twitter. We text our friends and colleagues. We live in a world immersed in story. And then occasionally we record our stories in novels, newspaper articles, short stories, plays, poems and screenplays.
In many ways we are master storytellers because it is an art form that we practice every day. But also, in many ways we are novices, neophytes, fledglings, because we stumble and falter with the telling of so many stories. We struggle with the extraordinary demands of each form or genre or delivery system. We’re like infants trying to take those first steps when inside we feel the desire to run.
Each form of storytelling has its opportunities...
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Description
Mark W. Travis is regarded by many Hollywood and international professionals as one of the world’s leading authorities in the art and craft of film directing. He has served as a creative consultant on several studio and independent feature films including: "A Bronx Tale," "Notorius," "Men of Honor," "Barbershop" and "The Stoning of Soraya M." He is the author of the number-one bestseller (L.A. Times), "The Director's Journey: The Creative Collaboration between Directors, Writers and Actors." His second book, "Directing Feature Films" is currently used as required text in film schools worldwide. His latest book, "The Film Director's Bag of Tricks" was published in September 2011.
